Land of Saints & Scholars
For a thousand years Ireland's monasteries kept learning alive in Europe. The sites remain, many of them free, quiet and astonishing.
The St Patrick sites: Downpatrick & Armagh
St Patrick founded his first church at Saul, near Downpatrick, where he died in 461; Armagh, which he founded, remains the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, with two cathedrals dedicated to him.
Glendalough, County Wicklow
St Kevin's 6th-century monastery in a glacial valley, famed for its 30-metre round tower and two lakes.
Clonmacnoise, County Offaly
Founded by St Ciarán in 544 where the Shannon meets the esker road, a centre of learning known across Europe, with the Cross of the Scriptures among its high crosses.
Croagh Patrick, County Mayo
Ireland's holy mountain: tradition holds St Patrick fasted on the summit for 40 days in 441; pilgrims climb it still, most famously on Reek Sunday, the last Sunday of July.
Knock, County Mayo
On 21 August 1879 fifteen witnesses reported an apparition at the parish church gable; Knock became one of the world's major Marian pilgrimage sites, visited by Pope John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Francis in 2018.